Never Back Down
by Bloodycobra
Summary: A tournament has been arranged to showcase every master's ability to train students or lack of. How will the Five, Shifu and the Dragon Warrior pick their students? Over 1000 students will enter but only one will emerge victorious.
1. Message

Never Back Down

Message to Readers

Okay I hit a huge writer's block on The Rise and Fall of Kai so while I wait I decided to make a new story about a tournament which showcases students who aren't masters. In this story I'll need four characters so the furious five except Tigress will have students to train. I'd love feedback from other people about their characters. Please try and put everything about them (but not what their favourite colour is unless it has significant purpose for character development)

I look forward to the characters and ideas that I hope will be pitched. -Cobra


	2. Chapter One

Never Back Down

Chapter One

A/N: Okay I got a few characters to work with now, looks quite challenging with their abilities but I will persevere. You can keep sending character ideas to me as I will start introducing the characters after this chapter.

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><p>As the morning rays descended into the courtyard of the jade palace six warriors stood in a perfect line; a monkey, mantis, snake, crane, tiger and a panda all stood in a line waiting. The burning heat from the sun reached the warriors but all stood nonchalantly except the panda who kept fidgeting.<p>

Tigress watched in the corner of her eye as the Dragon Warrior kept squirming under the heat of the sun.

"Will you stop fidgeting?" Tigress took deep breaths to control herself.

"It's not my fault it's so hot and heat affects black a lot more!" Tigress growled at his pathetic excuse.

"I have black stripes Po! I can feel it too." Po resorted to sticking his tongue out like a child

Tigress' lip curled in distaste as she rolled her eyes.

"Ah Students sorry for the delay but I have some great news." A small red panda made his way in front of the line of warriors with a poster in his paws.

"Well that makes a change" Mantis started chuckling at his own remark before being tail whipped by Viper.

Master Shifu looked at the bug with cold eyes before clearing his throat. "As I was saying, I have been informed that the 'Tournament of Masters' is being resurrected and will take place next year."

Everyone except Po nodded and had smiles on their faces.

"Awesome! I can show my amazing Kung Fu skills to the whole of China!" the five instantly face pawed themselves at the panda's statement.

"Panda, The tournament is there to showcase the masters' abilities...to teach the arts not use them." Shifu slightly chuckled at the panda's frown.

"Master, it's been at least 15 years since this tournament was stopped why the sudden change?" Viper slithered closer to see the poster that Shifu was holding.

"The Emperor believes standards are slipping so he thought what better way to improve it by having a tournament to showcase the art through beginners." Shifu looked across his students remembering the time training them for the competition.

"It will be your turn to train students for the competition; I know you will make me proud." Master Shifu bowed to his students with a smile on his face. The six warriors also showed their respect by bowing.

"Oh and Po, Don't worry I will help you with your student. You just need to find one first." Shifu decided it was the best time for his departure; so he slowly limped away.

Tigress looked at each of her comrades who all seemed to be in deep thought. "We aren't going to find students by staring off into space, Crane make some posters to inform residents about the opportunity to learn Kung Fu. Viper go inform Zeng to fly the posters out when they are done. Monkey and Mantis I want you to make sure the main arena is ready for use. Okay?"

The four warriors nodded and rushed off to complete their tasks leaving the Tiger and Panda alone in the courtyard.

"Uh...Tigress?" Po started twiddling his fingers while sweating in the heat.

"What Po?" The tone sounded harsher than Tigress wanted to convey but it was too late.

"What should I do?" Tigress narrowed her eyes to slits while stalking up to the panda.

"Don't. Screw. It. Up." With each word Tigress prodded Po's chest with her paw.

Po could only nod and quickly rushed away from the striped feline, as Tigress watched him trip over constantly from trying to get away from her she couldn't help but smirk at his clumsy nature. The striped feline turned around and looked down at the Valley. 'Time to find my student.'

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><p>AN: Next chapter I will start introducing the characters sent to me, I've already got some rough ideas with the description you lot have sent me. So until next time. -Cobra


	3. Chapter Two

Never Back Down

Chapter Two:

A/N: All the character Ideas sent to me have been all females xD (You people are very strange :D) It's cool though seems like the Jade Palace is going to be a girl fest. Thank you for your input I have to say there were some strange attributes like able to use magic, I'll find that the hardest to integrate but it will be done! All the other stuff like emotional and their preferences will be a lot easier.

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><p>It had been over two weeks since the posters had been sent out and the day of the trials had come. As the six masters looked down to the village they noticed a large amount of animals climbing the thousand steps. Each of the Five had an idea of what they expected from their students.<p>

Monkey expected his student to be agile, cunning, tactically aware and want to study in the arts of weapons.

Mantis believed speed was the key to success, though Mantis did understand that speed alone wasn't going to win the tournament he still wanted his student to be able to keep up with him.

Viper wanted her student to posses finesse and subtlety. The green snake also wanted someone to have a high intelligence to make her job of teaching the theory easier.

Crane wanted a smart and witty student someone he could teach the principles along with the Kung Fu

Tigress didn't worry too much about the ability as long as the determination and passion was there. The striped feline also wanted a disciplined student who would obey everything she would say without question but understood she could always drill that into the animal's skull.

Po on the other hand had no clue what he was looking for in a student, Po decided to go with his gut and see where that would take him.

As the six masters descended towards the main arena where the tasks were set out they noticed that all the animals were standing around in the arena looking at them.

With a quick glance Tigress estimated there to be at least 120ish wanting to be the masters' students. Tigress moved onto the platform that overlooked and stared down onto the wannabe students.

"If you are the type of animal that whines, moans and cry about being worked too hard...the door is over there." Tigress pointed towards the large gate behind the huge group of animals, after a few seconds of no movement a sadistic smile appeared on the feline's face.

"Good, you will be split up into three groups. The group to my left will start on the strength and endurance tests. The people in the centre of the arena will be on the speed and agility course and the last group will be sparring against each other to test your tactical awareness and intelligence...Am I understood?" Tigress looked down upon the group who all nodded in unison.

"Well what are you waiting for? GET ORGANISED!" After the order the group got into three smaller groups of 40.

Monkey and Mantis was already a step ahead of Tigress and had the speed and endurance test brought out which involved in dashes and quick manoeuvring around sharp bends at top speed. Monkey decided to make the test harder by having him and Mantis throw objects at the participant while they did the course; if the participant is hit they failed.

Crane and Viper had an easier job organising the tests for their group they made two rings in which the animals sparring wouldn't be allowed to step out of. The point of this exercise is to evaluate how each participant can read another and act on the observation.

Po and Tigress had the job of dealing with strength and endurance, the strength part of the test consisted of the wannabe's doing push ups with cinderblocks placed on their backs. After the push ups they had to do a circuit of the thousand steps in under ten minutes. After that if extreme measures required a full blown spar with either the feline or the panda.

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><p>Tigress watched as 10 animals stepped forward; four rhinos, two tigers, one bear and three canines. As they started the push ups Tigress noticed that the rhino's could barely hold their own weight let alone with the cinderblocks on their back. Po watched on amused as Tigress placed cinderblocks on their backs. The panda couldn't help but laugh as the rhino's collapsed under the added weight. Po carried on observing Tigress add the weight to the felines. The larger of the two felines held the weight until his arms caved what surprised the panda the most was smaller white feline able to actually lower herself to the ground and then back up with ease.<p>

Tigress was slightly surprised at the white feline able to do the push ups, the striped feline decided to move on to the bear and the wolves. Tigress watched as the bear managed five reps before stopping and the wolves stopped at three.

As Tigress turned back she noticed the small white feline still going, Po watched as Tigress came closer to him and ask how many had the tiger done.

"Erm...I lost count at 15." Tigress looked at the panda like he was an idiot.

"How could lose count at such a low number? You know what... I don't even want to know." The striped feline then walked over towards the white feline and removed the cinderblock.

"Impressive you managed to beat a few rhinos and a bear in a strength test. May I know your name?" Tigress noticed a glint in the white feline's orbs.

"My name is Aki, Master Tigress." Aki bowed towards the feline master after introducing herself.

"Well Aki would you like a break?" the white feline raised herself and smiled.

"No, I still feel fine." Tigress nodded and motioned for her to stand aside while the others took the strength test.

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><p>Monkey and Mantis had gone through 12 wannabes already and started getting bored.<p>

"Monkey this group sucks not a single person has managed to do the sprint in a straight line without getting hit!" Mantis narrowed his eyes and launched a large piece of wood at a canine attempting the course and smiled once he heard the yelp.

"I know what you mean, They all look like they can do it but..." Monkey put all his energy into throwing another large piece of wood but was shocked to see the canine slide underneath the fast moving projectile.

"Ohh hello." Mantis kicked three more pieces at different height towards the orange blur. The small green insect watched intently as the canine slid under the first and flipped over the next with ease. The orange blur skidded to a halt narrowly missing the third piece that's when Mantis noticed the canine to be a fox.

The orange fox slowly walked over the finishing line in a rather alluring way that seemed to mesmerise Mantis.

"Dude that fox is a chick! I call dibs!" Monkey face pawed himself.

"Sorry for Master Mantis' ...up forwardness." Monkey found himself staring into the ocean blue coloured orbs that the vixen had.

The vixen slowly approached the two masters with a smile across her face. "That's okay. So did I pass?"

Monkey laughed while Mantis ogled the vixen. "Well you still have another part to the test but with that display you'll most likely pass. Anyway you can call me Monkey forget the master part didn't really like formalities."

The orange vixen smiled showing off her pearly white set of teeth. "You can call me Ember."

Monkey nodded and looked at Mantis who was still gawking at the vixen. Slapping the insect on the head to get his attention Mantis decided to ask a question.

"You want to continue or wait for to see if any others will join you for the later stages?" Mantis watched the vixen yawn before she apologized.

"I'm a bit tired from the journey here so if you don't mind could I wait?" Mantis and Monkey just shrugged.

"Sure why not."

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><p>Viper and Crane spent the evening watching sparring sessions between each of the participants. With a quick glance you would thought that the combatants were skilled but Viper and Crane had very sharp eyes and could see that most of the individuals were either just playing on luck that they attacked at the right time or just used brute strength.<p>

Time was passing on and it was getting late, Viper and Crane informed the group it would be the last sparring session for the day. A feline stepped forward from what Viper could tell it was a black panther but what caught Viper's eye the most was the unusual coloured hair the panther had it was a light golden colour that flowed to the panthers waist.

Crane noticed the other participant was pretty unique and seemed to have heritage of a tiger but couldn't tell what other heritage the feline had. Crane noticed that the feline was quite large for a tiger but could defiantly tell it was a female.

As the two felines entered the ring they started circling each other, even after Crane had initiated the sparring session they kept circling each other. The black panther launched quickly unleashing a flurry of kicks towards the head of the opposing feline. Crane watched slightly impressed at the technique of the panther but noticed that every time she kicked it left an opening for the opponent to take.

After a few blows to her exposed body the half tiger noticed an opening and threw a heavy punch which made the black feline skid across the floor to the other side of the ring and just stop on the boundary. Viper watched as the participants sized each other up again. This time the half tiger attacked faking a punch to the dark furred feline's head. The panther fell for the attack and blocked the non-existent attack which left the whole lower body exposed. The half tiger took this opportunity and swept the feline's legs from under her sending the panther to the floor.

As the panther hit the floor she spun her legs around sweeping the half tiger's legs away as well sending them both to the floor. After ten more minutes of one of the felines getting the advantage then it becoming equal again Crane and Viper became tired of watching.

Viper was the first to speak up about her opinion. "Okay guys looks like this will be a draw."

The two felines stopped sparring and bowed in respect. Crane was impressed with both of the felines, not only did they manage to see their advantages on their opponent but they also faked weaknesses to bait them into attacking.

"That was really good, What are your names?" The panther motioned for the half tiger to speak first.

"I am Ai Laterose"

"And I am Chan-Juan"

Crane nodded towards Tigress to show that he was done for the day.

"Well Ai and Chan, I'd really like to train you both if you don't mind?" Crane looked at both of the feline's who smiled and nodded. Crane smiled and bowed towards his new students and the two felines did the same.

Tigress walked to the top of the platform and looked down upon the large group again.

"That's all for today, the valley's hotels have been informed about the trials and have agreed to lodge you all. I expect to see you all here by the gong with rings at crack of dawn. Have I made myself clear?"

"YES MASTER TIGRESS!" Tigress nodded and left with the rest of the masters back to the Jade Palace.

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><p>AN: Don't worry if I didn't introduce you character I have three more to add and my own so don't worry. I hope I've interested you into reading more chapters when they came out and also done the characters that I have used justice. If you have any problems with how I've portrayed your character please drop a PM to me and explain what was wrong. -Cobra


	4. Chapter Three

Never Back Down

Chapter Three

A/N: Okay, All of the character ideas I received one was male. (The Author's notes I usually write in advance which saves me time I find.)

Ember Kalan is owned by miggzzz  
>Aki is owned by Yuki the Tiger<br>Chan-Juan is owned by Sithlord8665  
>Ai Laterose is owned by thundra501<p>

I have three more characters to add that have been sent to me plus my own so it's going to get crazy. Because of the amount of characters I'm working with **please don't send anymore ideas** I find the amount I have now a good challenge especially with the detail people have given me. Now I've got the fun task of setting a plot in which to work with and some not so nice characters to add.

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><p>"Mantis speed isn't everything! It's about being smart in the fight." Crane sat opposite the green bug at dinner and was having a heated debate about what traits would give the students an advantage over the others.<p>

"Being smart is great Crane but you can't hit what you can't see!" Mantis would not budge he believed the speed was the key to this tournament.

Po and Monkey watched from the sidelines taking bets who would give up first. Po himself had no idea what he believed to be the right or wrong way. Monkey thought agility mixed with speed would prevail and already had the perfect training in mind for his student or students.

Tigress felt her temper rise as the two masters kept bickering about what was the better trait to have. "Will you two grow up! A good fighter will have all those attributes. With the exception of Po we are all extremely fast, we can read a situation and act accordingly, we can all lift at least three times our own weight and we can all dodge incoming projectiles."

Po felt somewhat insulted that Tigress excluded him from that list of attributes. "Hey! What am I..."

Tigress snapped her attention to the panda and glared. "Not now Po. The student I believe will have the best chance is one who is determined to succeeded and passionate about Kung Fu."

Monkey couldn't help but laugh at the feline's reaction to the Dragon Warrior's whining, Viper slapped Monkey on the back of his head while glaring daggers.

Mantis huffed at the long speech. "I don't care... speed is still more important."

Crane and Viper simultaneously sighed at the stubborn attitude Mantis was displaying. Tigress on the other hand decided to leave the kitchen before she lost it and caused bodily harm to the insect.

Viper sighed and decided to follow the feline and try to calm her down. Po watched as the green tree snake slithered across the kitchen.

"Viper could you see my dad and fetch some radishes for tomorrow?" Viper turned around to the panda and nodded before going to find the striped feline.

As Tigress left the kitchen she started to head towards the courtyard while calming herself down.

"Tigress? You okay?" the striped feline sighed.

"I'm fine Viper, Mantis is just being..." before the feline finished the green tree snake cut in.

"Mantis?" The feline smirked a little at the description.

"I guess we all want to prove that we can teach in the best possible way... I might go into the valley to clear my mind." Tigress started to walk towards the main gate and noticed that Viper was following her.

"I'm going to see Mr. Ping in case you're wondering. Po wanted to have some radishes for dinner tomorrow, would you mind helping me carry them?" Viper smiled sweetly at the feline who just shook her head amused.

"You had this planned." Viper feigned shock at the feline's statement.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Tigress rolled her eyes as they started to make their way down into the valley.

As Tigress and Viper made their way down into the darkened valley it seemed peaceful almost eerily silent. A loud crash from one of the nearby alleys broke the silence followed by some cheering.

"Yeah smash his face in!"

Tigress set off in the direction of the cheering and found a large group in a circle; inside the circle a large boar and a orange striped feline were fighting.

The fight however was totally one sided. Tigress got a glance at both of the fighters and noticed that the orange feline had a cut under his eye with blood matting his fur, the black tank top the feline was wearing was torn and exposed a heavily bruised body. Tigress also noticed that the feline was keeping his weight on his right leg and barely moving.

The boar on the other hand apart from being out of breath didn't have anything wrong with him.

"Is that all you got." The striped feline then spat out blood onto the floor and smirked at the boar showing his blood drenched teeth.

The boar clenched his fist and brought down viscous strikes to the feline's head each of them landing with devastating impact. After three punches the feline fell to the floor and spat out more blood.

"You aren't even a challenge." The feline gritted his teeth and started to push himself pack up.

Tigress watched the orange feline get smacked down harder each time and still pick himself back up. Tigress noticed that the cut underneath his eye was starting to swell up, deciding she saw enough Tigress decided to break up the fight.

"How about you fight someone who is a challenge then?" the group turned around and spotted the feline master.

The boar looked at the beaten up feline and then back towards Tigress. With a scowl he turned back to the badly beaten feline. "Looks like you were lucky that Master Tigress saved you."

The boar clicked his fingers and the group started to leave. The beaten up feline let out a low growl. "Come back here and fight me."

The boar ignored him and left into the night.

Tigress watched the blood matted feline stagger to his feet, as the feline got to his feet he started to feel dizzy and sick.

"You should've stayed down you know." Tigress watched as the feline for the first time noticed her.

"It's also none of your business." The feline then tried to stagger away but Tigress grasped his upper arm.

"You could at least say 'thank you' for saving you." The orange feline attempted to pry his arm away from Tigress but to no avail.

"I didn't ask for your help." The orange tiger hissed in pain as Tigress started to crush his upper arm.

"I thought for a moment you were being brave but I see it was you just letting pride get in the way." Tigress let go when she felt him yank his arm way making him stagger from the lack of resistance.

"You don't know me." The orange feline then started to stagger out of the alley with a small trail of blood left behind him.

Tigress watched the orange feline with mixed emotions, part of her wanted to say 'Screw him and his obnoxious attitude.' And the other part noticed how he never gave up even in the face of defeat.

'I will soon.'

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><p>The Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior made sure to get up before sunrise and prepare for the day's trials. Tigress already had the cinderblocks ready while Po just stood there watching. Monkey set out the manoeuvring course while Mantis prepared the projectiles to lob at unsuspecting participants. Crane and Viper once again had the easy job setting out a sparring ring and started chatting when they were done.<p>

"So Crane two students already? Don't you think that's a bit too much?" Viper thought about if she was going to find a student today.

"No not really, besides I can have my students spar while I watch and help them improve on their technique." Viper nodded at Crane's idea.

"Have you seen anyone that has caught your eye Viper?" the green tree snake shook her head.

"I'm sure you will Viper, it's only a matter of time." Crane hoped that Viper would find the perfect student for her as he believed that she deserves it.

"Thanks Crane." Viper knew that the perfect student for her was out there somewhere.

As the sun rose over the mountains Tigress' eyes narrowed on the main gate into the arena after ten more minutes the students started to arrive, once everyone was in the arena Tigress walked to the top of the platform that overlooked the large group of animals.

"You are all late. As a result you will all do 100 push ups...GO!" Tigress watched as the animals went prone and started the process of doing push ups.

Po and Tigress once again had a large group start doing the push ups with the cinderblocks but Tigress insisted Po to do something instead of standing there and watch.

"Po all you do is place the cinderblocks on their backs and once they've done 10 reps you can take it off okay?" Po nodded and Tigress huffed relief after finally getting it through to him.

Tigress decided to start on the second part of her training course; the thousand steps. Tigress gathered a small group that passed the first test only four passed the strength test out of 40.

"This is all about endurance, not about speed you run too fast and you'll burn yourself out and won't make it in time, run too slow and you won't make it in time. The challenge is to run up and down the thousand steps as many times as possible in less than ten minutes...the record is six times but I don't expect you to beat it." Tigress eyed all of the animals that passed the strength test; two large silverback gorillas, a rhino and two felines.

Tigress looked at all of them and smiled; she knew that they were going to struggle on this as they all seemed to only concentrate on strength except for the average sized white feline which surprised Tigress in the strength test.

Aki decided to wear usual white training shirt with a golden dragon etched onto it, the white feline also wore the standard black training pants. What caught Tigress' eye were the metal bands on her wrists that looked a lot like Monkey's.

Tigress had each of the wannabe students to line up at the top of the stairs and wait for her signal. As time passed the dark feline became slightly impatient and started fidgeting, the gorillas started talking to each other. Aki on the other hand just stared down into the valley and even through her clothing you could see her muscles tensed ready to go.

Tigress made a mental note of each of the four potential students. "Go."

Aki was the first off the line and bolted down the stairs with relative ease; the others of the group were caught off guard and were slower in leaving.

Tigress watched as the three animals dashed off trying to regain the distance to the white feline. Tigress observed quietly the weaknesses and strengths in how they postured themselves when they ran and how they maintained their breath.

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><p>Monkey and Mantis decided to split off; Monkey would keep up the first test by throwing objects at the participant. Mantis however decided to ramp up the agility test by using the field of fiery death but toned down the difficulty level for safety reasons.<p>

Monkey found himself getting rather bored with the monotonous job of throwing objects at participants and them yelping in pain. All the participants became a blur in his mind; Monkey tried to make a game by calling out which body part he was going to hit in his mind and then try to hit it.

'Ribcage' the mental note was then followed by a yelp as a coyote went flying to the side holding his ribs

'Head' a soft thud followed by an even louder noise as the rhino lost consciousness and fell to the ground with a crash.

'Stomach' As Monkey threw the projectile he didn't hear a yelp instead only a whooshing noise and felt a sharp pain in his arm. When Monkey looked down he noticed the piece of wood he just threw a moment ago realising that the participant threw it back at him Monkey threw four more pieces at the white blur.

Monkey heard the same whooshing noise again but more of them and quickly ducked as they flew over his head. Once the participant finished the track Monkey immediately noticed the animal to be a pure white vixen but with nine-tails.

"How did you throw the pieces of wood back?" Monkey was stumped on that question but the vixen just smiled at the golden langur.

"I used my tails Master Monkey." As the vixen mentioned her tails she spread them out behind her showing off the golden coloured tips of her tails.

"A vixen with nine tails, what species are you?" Monkey scratched his head in confusion.

"I'm a Kitsune." Monkey looked the Kitsune over and noticed she was wearing a black vest like Tigress' with red floral patterns going down her left side, the trousers were also black and carried on the red floral design down her left side. The sash that kept two items of clothing together was red and tied in a knot to her right side.

"It's rude to stare you know." Monkey quickly shook his head and tried to hide the blush. Thankfully Monkey did a good job of it.

"So what's your name?" Monkey felt awkward now being caught staring at the Kitsune.

"It's Sye." Sye smiled at the primate and winked hoping to fluster him.

Monkey kept a cool head and had a decision to make. "I know Mantis will want to kill me as you fit perfectly in his 'idea' of a student but I'm willing to take you as my student...if you want." Monkey quickly added the last part and felt foolish again.

The Kitsune laughed as she watched the primates face wince at how pathetic it sounded. "I'd love to be your student Master Monkey."

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><p>Tigress watched as Aki completed her third lap of the thousand stairs but looked like she was seriously pushing herself as Tigress could hear the laboured breathing and sweat pouring off of her white fur.<p>

The gorillas hadn't even completed their first lap and Tigress knew why as they passed out half way up the stairs because of dehydration and overexertion.

The black feline was nowhere to be seen however so Tigress assumed he quit and the striped feline didn't care one bit she had no time for quitters.

Time was up and Aki was only a third of the way back up the stairs. Tigress waited for a few more minutes and Aki was the only one standing at the top but covered in sweat that was slowly drying in her fur making it look matted.

Tigress heard panting coming from the steps and saw a large object coming up the stairs. 'I ordered that for lunch.'

As the object got closer she noticed that person carrying it had a slight limp as it would drop slightly whenever weight would be put on the right side.

Aki watched as the large box was placed on the ground and revealing a heavily bruised orange striped feline similar to Tigress but male. The orange feline was blissfully unaware looking at his clipboard.

Tigress knew exactly who he was as she looked him up and down she noticed a new black tank top similar to the night before but not ripped. His pants were bright white and had a yellow sash tying the clothing articles together.

"Delivery for the Jade Palace. Can you please sign...you." the orange feline looked up and noticed Tigress smirking at him.

"Come to say thank you?" Tigress could hear the orange feline's teeth grind.

"I didn't ask for your help last night...I could've dealt with it myself." The orange feline hissed out his disapproval.

Aki looked at the orange feline like he was a rotten fish nose upturned. "By the looks of it you did need Master Tigress' help."

The orange tiger glared at the white feline. "Who asked you to butt in princess?"

Aki growled at demeaning nickname. "You want to watch what you say otherwise I'll give a matching bruise your other eye."

The orange feline just snorted and turned his attention back to the feline master who was glaring at him.

"Can you just sign, so I can leave?" Tigress looked at the clipboard with a quill and paper attached.

Tigress remembered the other night about what he said:

"_You don't know me." The orange feline then started to stagger out of the alley with a small trail of blood left behind him._

With a smirk she grabbed the clipboard but didn't sign. "Who might I be signing for?"

Tigress quickly scanned the paper in front of her and saw the name 'Lionel'

"My name is Leo" Tigress' eyebrow rose at conflicting information.

"It says here Li-o-nel" Tigress heard the feline's teeth grind again.

"It's not Li-o-nel. It's Leo-nel." Tigress looked confused at the pronunciation

"Or Leo for short. Only my mother calls me Lionel anyway." The orange feline felt a liquid weep from his bruised eye and quickly brushed it away not before Tigress noticed it.

"You're weeping blood." Tigress said it more of a statement than a question.

"Just sign." Leo started to get impatient at Tigress' delay tactics.

"What if I don't?" Tigress eyed him suspiciously.

"Doesn't bother me, you've already paid for it. I'll just take the box back." Leo couldn't honestly care about what happened to that box.

"How come you didn't enter the trials?" Tigress looked as the orange feline's posture slumped.

"Guess I've been too busy." Leo looked at the box and sighed.

"What... getting beat up?" Aki couldn't help but dig at the orange feline for being so arrogant.

Leo scowled at the white feline. "Aren't you the comedian? No I have a job as you can see, some people actually have to work instead of chasing dreams of being a Kung Fu master."

Tigress snorted. "That is a pathetic excuse. The Dragon Warrior used to be a noodle maker before he got involved in Kung Fu."

Leo shrugged "Is that meant to encourage me to take the trials?"

Aki laughed at the orange feline. "You couldn't even past the first test, especially with all those bruises."

Tigress shook her head "He could...if he wanted it enough. How did it feel getting knocked down each time by that boar? Degrading? Humiliating? It was a truly pathetic fight. You didn't even manage to swing at him...If you show me and the other masters the same determination you had every time you picked yourself off that floor who knows?"

Leo sat there for a few moments thinking about his life, for the brief moment of clarity Leo knew it was time to stand up and take a risk. So what if he failed at least he tried.

"Fine, where do we start?" Tigress nodded and smiled dangerously.

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><p>On the outskirts of the Valley in the tall grass a large grey canine slowly walked towards the village in a simple cloak. Each step brought the canine closer to his destination, the grey wolf decided to look at the poster he managed to take from a village.<p>

"This must be the Jade Palace." Looking up to the towering green palace the wolf set forth to hopefully embark on a new journey. As the wind blew it brushed his cloak open and revealed a yin and yang pendant on a silver chain.

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><p>AN: Another Chapter is done and I only have to describe two more characters yay! Please let me know what you guys think. When it comes to you OC please don't hesitate in telling me if I'm going off track with the emotional or behavioural patterns. I hope you guys enjoy and soon I can start on the hardcore training. Also If you have more detail on your OC's please send it to me I already have at least 2,500 words describing 8 characters :D

Sye is owned by KristenTheKittyKat

Leo is owned by me (Bloodycobra)

The wolf which has yet to be named is owned by (MindAssassin)


	5. Chapter Four

Never Back Down

Chapter Four

A/N: Working with all your characters is quite a challenge that I enjoy quite a bit. I can't wait till I get down into the main bulk of the story as I have so much to work with. Most characters have a really good past life that really does define them and makes them unique.

Ember Kalan is owned by miggzzz  
>Aki is owned by Yuki the Tiger<br>Chan-Juan is owned by Sithlord8665  
>Ai Laterose is owned by thundra501<br>Sye is owned by KristenTheKittyKat  
>Leo is owned by me (Bloodycobra)<br>The wolf which hasn't been named is owned by (MindAssassin)

That's how many characters I have to work with, quite a handful but fun. I believe I still have one more to add in the mix but need to find a way of introducing as the character is rather strange for me.

I'm glad you lot are enjoying the story so far. This will be the last chapter of the trials which will enable me to get stuck into the main training of all your characters.

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><p>Mantis was standing on the edge next to the field of fiery death overseeing the final stages of the speed and agility test. Only one participant got passed Monkey's mean throwing arm and Mantis was engrossed watching the orange vixen elegantly back flip over the spitting fires.<p>

As Ember touched back down on the field she heard a hissing noise directly under and quickly rolled to her side narrowly avoiding another flame spike. The orange vixen started to feel fatigue building up in her muscles as the dull ache began.

Mantis observed that the vixen was becoming slower and that fatigue was setting in and was ready to stop the test when he deemed the canine to be exhausted. Mantis watched as the vixen's white tank top was singed and had black soot staining the piece of clothing. Mantis also noticed the unorthodox shorts that the vixen was wearing; Shorts were allowed but not usually seen around, the white shorts that stopped at her lower thigh wasn't singed but had a lot of black soot from where she was rolling around.

Ember felt the heat erupt very close to her tail as she rolled out of the way again. She knew that she wouldn't be able to keep up as time went on. Deciding it would be best not to be burnt Ember went to jump off the field of fiery death but was caught out by an unexpected blast of fire.

Mantis watched as the vixen moved quickly but not quick enough to avoid being hit by the flame. As Ember landed she quickly checked herself over and noticed her tank top slightly on fire using her paws she quickly smothered the flame out.

Ember quickly looked around to see the green insect turn the field of fiery death off, Ember thought she had failed the final test.

"So what now?" Mantis looked at state of the vixen which was covered in black soot.

"I know what you're thinking Ember and to be honest after five minutes you had passed in my books. I just wanted to see how long you would last." Ember was shocked to find out that Mantis was playing around.

"I could've got hurt." Ember kept her voice quiet not wanting to shout and ruin her chances.

"PFFF. You wouldn't have got hurt because I'm here." Mantis hopped down and scuttled across towards the vixen.

"And I couldn't have my student get hurt before her first full day could I?" Mantis smiled at his statement he had already made his mind up after she had passed the first test and this test just confirmed it.

"Really? Thank you so much! So what do we do now...master?" Mantis smiled at addition of his student calling him master.

Mantis shrugged before thinking. "We could go watch the others and see how they are getting on. I only want one student."

The vixen smiled and nodded. "You only wanted one student?"

The small insect and the vixen made their way out of the training hall and started slowly descend the stairs to the main arena.

"Yeah, allows me to focus on only on you. I prefer teaching one-to-one." Ember nodded as it made sense.

Crane had the same idea of letting Chan-Juan and Ai look around and sees if the other masters had found their students yet. Crane decided to stick around with Viper to help her find a student.

As Mantis got closer to the bottom of the steps he noticed two felines on an intercept path and thought he recognised them. The first feline that looked part tiger and part lion was wearing a light cerulean vest that had a yin and yang pattern etched onto along with matching coloured training pants.

"Master Mantis. Master Crane sent us to see if any of the other masters had picked their students." Ai stepped forward and bowed towards the insect and noticed the vixen standing behind him.

"I thought I recognised you...its erm Ai right?" The hybrid tiger nodded.

"Cool, and you must be Chan then." The dark furred panther also bowed towards the insect.

"Crane must either be brave or rather stupid to train two students at once." Mantis chuckled at the irony of calling the avian master stupid.

"Anyway let me introduce you to Ember, She'll be under my tutelage." Mantis directed the felines' attention towards the vixen that was standing there rather quiet.

Ai smiled and extended a paw. "I'm Ai Laterose but you can call me Ai."

Ember smiled back and shook Ai's paw. "I'm Ember Kalan but people call me Ember."

Chan-Juan was the next to approach the vixen. Ember noticed the red floral pattern on the purple vest that the panther was wearing along with normal black training pants.

"I'm Chan-Juan but you may call me Chan." Chan formally bowed to the vixen.

Ember followed suit by bowing as well "Nice to meet you Chan, I'm Ember."

Mantis heard the main gate open and saw Tigress walk through with a devilish grin plastered across her muzzle.

"I know that look anywhere! Let's go see what Tigress is up to whatever she is up to it isn't going to be pretty." The two felines and the vixen nodded and followed the insect master over towards the strength test.

Mantis watched the two felines behind Tigress; A white female tiger and a orange striped male tiger. The white tiger was wearing a white training vest that clung to the feline's fur due to the sweat, the black training pants also clung to her fur as the material was soaked with sweat.

The second feline looked the worse out of all of them. The first thing Mantis noticed was the huge swelling under his left eye. The next noticeable thing was the massive bruising along the arms of the feline that Manti's deduced as defensive marks. The insect then noticed how clean and perfect the orange feline's clothes were. His black tank top didn't have a single drop of sweat on it nor did his white training pants.

Leo could feel people staring at him and it made him feel rather humiliated given the condition he was in. Leo followed Tigress until she stopped at a row of cinderblocks and looked at him expectantly.

"10 push ups with one of those on your back." Leo looked at the cinderblocks and could tell that they looked to weigh around 15 stone.

"10? I doubt I'll be able to do five given my condition." Tigress narrowed her eyes at Leo while Aki laughed in the background remembering how easy it was for her.

"With enough determination you could do it and more...now enough excuses and get into position." Tigress pointed to the floor.

Leo groaned in a disobeying manner but after the stern look from Tigress he placed himself in a press up position. Leo had no issue supporting his own weight he used to exercise daily but stopped after the fights. The orange feline watched as Tigress picked up the cinderblock like it weighed a feather and placed it on his back. As soon as Tigress let go Leo felt like a rhino had sat on him.

Aki watched the orange feline's muscles start to shake under the pressure put under them, she expected him to fail within minutes considering his condition.

"How much does that weigh?" Tigress growled at the complaining feline.

"Shut up and start unless you want my weight to lift as well." Leo huffed and lowered himself down with ease put lifting himself up was the problem. As Leo put pressure into his muscles he felt the blood rush into his bruise and felt the agonizing pain as he completed his first rep.

After three more reps Leo felt as if his arms would drop off. The pain was unbearable. "10...seriously...*huff*"

Leo could barely complain as the pain started to spread to his chest. Tigress watched emotionless and considered pushing him down with her foot to help him along. Aki wanted to laugh at how pathetic the display was; not only did she manage the task without breaking a sweat she did eleven more than she was supposed to while the feline in front her couldn't do four without whining.

Leo lowered and raised himself three more times this time he felt a liquid trickle down his bruised eye and start to drip onto the floor. Mantis noticed the blood coming from the feline's eye and sped under him and wiped the blood from his vision.

"Th-thanks *huff* but I was fine." Tigress shook her head at his pride getting in the way.

Leo started to push himself to the breaking point it was now or never, in a rush Leo pushed flat out and quickly lowered and raised himself three times.

"There...done." Leo lowered himself to the floor and let himself rest on the cold floor of the arena and closed his eyes as he relaxed. Tigress removed the cinderblock on his back and moved towards the gate.

"Good, now for the next test." Tigress could hear Leo groan about a break but didn't listen.

Mantis watched in amusement as Tigress pushed the orange feline to his breaking point and kept pushing.

"Aki get Leo up and moving." Tigress watched as the white feline nodded and walked over to the downed tiger and grabbed by the neck fur and yanked him to his feet.

Leo felt humiliated again in front of everyone and swiped Aki's paws away while snarling at the white feline.

"You could've just given me your paw." Aki snorted and walked off.

Leo followed the white feline out of the main gate of the arena where Tigress was waiting. Leo looked down the thousand steps down into the valley and noticed a figure climbing the stairs.

"Do as many laps as possible in under ten minutes. Okay. One lap is a pass and anything above is also a pass." Leo sighed at the idea of more physical exertion.

"Your time started ten seconds ago." Tigress grinned at the lack of warning.

Leo groaned and started to run down the stairs. As he charged down the stairs the figure that was climbing the stairs got larger and larger until the feline could recognise the mysterious animal as a grey wolf. As he Leo got closer the canine seemed to stare at him and move as far away from the feline. Leo raced past the canine at break neck speed so he didn't get a good look at the wolf.

After a three minutes Leo reached the bottom of the stairs and started to charge back up but slower as climbing the stairs was much more taxing on his stamina. After a minute of running up the stairs Leo spotted the canine again and guessed they were half way up the stairs. Leo felt slightly dizzy and thought he was going to be sick at any moment.

The wolf heard panting coming from behind him and turned around to see the same feline that sped past him charge back up the stairs. Looking at the feline at first glance would show that the feline looked good other than the obvious swollen eye and bruises but the wolf noticed how his breathing was laboured, the slight twitch on the facial features that indicated the feline was in pain. But the most obvious for the wolf was how his body weight would shift as he climbed the stairs. The grey canine estimated in his mind three more minutes until the feline vomited and passed out through dehydration and overexertion.

Leo bolted past the canine but noted how the canine stopped and moved away from him but that was the least of the feline's problems as his vision started to become blurry and a brain wracking headache developed. After two more minutes of running he reached the top stairs and placed his paws on his thigh while he tried to regain his breath.

"I'm *huff* done." Leo could only see a large orange blur and a white blur that seemed to mumble something.

Leo shook his head and rubbed his eyes trying to regain his vision but to no avail. Tigress watched as Leo started convulsing and run over to the edge where he started to be vomiting after ten seconds of vomiting Leo collapsed on the floor out cold.

"Go get Viper!" Mantis quickly nodded and bolted off using his speed he managed to reach Viper within seconds.

"Viper, a feline has just passed out he needs help." Viper didn't need to be told twice and instantly moved towards the thousand steps and instantly recognised said feline from last night.

"Tigress you had him do the trials in that condition!" Viper was shocked at her friend's careless regard to the unconscious feline's health.

"He was fine Viper he carried that box up that stairs by himself." Tigress pointed to the large box that looked rather heavy.

"What happened precisely so I can diagnose?" Viper heard soft padded footfalls followed by a clearing of a throat.

The large grey wolf in a long grey robe stood there slightly nervous but felt at ease when he noticed he was correct in his assumption. As he moved closer but still at a respectful distance just in case he looked the young male feline over.

"He passed out from overexertion and dehydration; you also may want to have ribs checked as he had troubles breathing on the way down and back up from what I observed." The large grey wolf ignored the stares he was getting from the group and kept staring at Leo like he was going to attack him at any moment.

"How do you know all this?" Viper was puzzled how could he know about what caused the feline to pass out.

The large wolf then looked up and down the green serpent observing every little detail he could see. "Just like I know you are a fond ribbon dancer but haven't had time so your form would be sloppy and now and again slice yourself with the material like that cut that has faded slightly suggests."

Viper was shocked not only was the wolf spot on. How he managed to see the cut let baffled Viper none of her friends had noticed and for the wolf to deduce that she like ribbon dancing off of a cut confused the serpent.

Viper remembered about the unconscious feline next to her and had a few palace staff carry Leo to the medical ward and treat him for dehydration. Viper in the meantime decided to talk to the grey canine and see what she could find out.

"May I ask what your name is?" the wolf seemed startled but calmed down once he noticed Viper.

"Zongxian" The grey wolf voice was monotonous and sounded colder than Tigress when she was pissed off.

"So what brought you here?" Zongxian looked over to the horizon and watched as the sun retreated behind the mountains leaving a blood red sky.

"I wanted to try something new." The grey wolf watched the serpent in the corner of his eye watching every motion and expression like his life depended on it.

"Change is good, keeps life interesting." Viper tried to read the wolf's facial expressions but the blank look the wolf had made reading Tigress easier.

"I suppose but change can also be bad as it brings the person out of their comfort zone." Zongxian kept staring at the sunset and admired its beauty as it left a red tint in the sky.

A loud smash was heard and Zongxian braced himself and got into his own defensive stance looking around for the source. Once he spotted the source his whole body tensed up further.

"Sorry my bad." Po accidently fell onto the crate that was left there.

Viper noticed how the wolf tensed up when he laid eyes on Po. The green serpent couldn't help but think that the wolf's erratic behaviour was interesting. Deciding to test something she asked Po to give her a few minutes alone with the wolf. The large panda shrugged before leaving mumbling about a crate and how they are out to get him.

Once the wolf noticed Po was gone and realised it was just him and Viper he relaxed again.

"Can I ask you something that might be personal?" Zongxian thought for a second and decided he was fine with it.

"Do you have something against males? I saw how you acted around the feline and Po and put two and two together...you don't have to answer if you don't want to." Viper looked into the wolf's eyes searching for something.

Zongxian found Viper's voice to be soothing and sincere like she actually cared about him even though they just met.

"I don't wish to discuss it. I don't know you well enough." Viper nodded and smiled sweetly.

"Would you like to take the trials before we stop them?" Zongxian nodded slowly and followed the green tree snake into the main arena.

Viper had set up a sparring session against a vixen much to the relief of the grey wolf. Zongxian stood in the ring with the golden vixen. Zongxian decided wearing his robe during a sparring session wasn't practical and removed revealing a simple and worn grey vest along with faded black training pants.

Zongxian studied his opponent for a short moment waiting for a tell tale muscle to flex or a facial expression to give away the vixen's next move. After a half a minute of staring the vixen became impatient and decided to attack first, Zongxian noticed the vixen's left leg tense indicating that the golden canine was going to attempt kick with that leg.

As the vixen launched the attack with all the power and speed she could muster she watched as her leg was stopped by a large grey paw. Next thing the vixen knew she was hitting the floor as the leg that was supporting her was swept away.

Viper watched closely and was impressed at the judgement of the wolf. Not only did he stop the vixen's attack but he managed to counter attack instantly like it was all planned. The green serpent kept watching as the grey wolf managed to block every strike and counter each time with ease.

Deciding that this was a one sided fight Viper stopped the sparring session and knew she had found her student.

Each master found the trials to be very helpful. Crane had found Ai and Chan-Juan and took them both on as students. Monkey decided to take Sye on and see how things would go with him teaching. Ember had successful impressed Mantis and became his student and Tigress discovered Aki's strength and discipline while also discovering Leo's courage and determination plus his bad attitude. The only master who hadn't found anyone was Po and he was slightly panicking about what he was going to do.

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><p>AN: That's it. Trials are done, now I can get into the main part of the story and work on the interaction between the characters plus MONTAGES! Everyone knows if you want to go from just a beginner to a pro you're going to need a montage :D Anyway I can't wait to get each of the characters training. I'll have to set up special training regimes for each of them.


End file.
